Editorial: Protect yourself against the latest scams

Monday

Aug 14, 2017 at 2:01 AM

Once upon a time, being on the Do Not Call list meant that marketers did not call. And when caller ID flashed your area code on the screen, it was probably a good idea to answer it because it was likely someone you knew or a legitimate local business call. There were always scams, of course, but there just weren’t so darn many of them.

Federal regulators say the volume of scam calls is on the rise, a message underscored by a recent warning from the Florida Supreme Court to beware of a new rash of calls claiming to be from court officials. Many scammers work out of overseas fraud mills that “spoof” caller ID to make their calls look local and auto-dialers that make it easy to target many more victims. The Federal Trade Commission says that by 2016, the volume of fraudulent pitches and robo-calls had hit 2.4 billion a month.

Federal regulators and phone companies are working on ways to nip the latest scams in the bud. But the current surge underscores grim reality: As regulations shift to meet current threats — a process that can take months, even years — innovative crooks will be scheming up new ways to separate marks from their money. The best defense Americans have is common sense, skepticism and a sense of responsibility for their own protection.

For starters, that means keeping abreast of the latest tricks. Some scams are easy to spot — like pitches to refinance student loans, lighting up the phones of people who don’t have such loans outstanding. These are irritating, but best ignored (beyond reporting them to your cell-phone carrier). Responding to a scam only flags the number as belonging to a real person, and is likely to bring more calls or texts.

Others seem more legitimate — assured-sounding voices claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service or emails that look just like ones from your own bank. Again, the best defense is healthy skepticism and caution. Clicking on email links that ask for sensitive financial data, or installing software to let a dubious “tech support” person into your computer, is never a good idea.

The Federal Communications Commission is giving carriers more advanced weapons to filter ripoff calls. T-Mobile, for example, is starting to flag phone numbers that receive a lot of complaints with a caller ID that reads “SCAM LIKELY.” As of March, cell phone companies have increased power to block numbers with a pattern of suspicious calls.

A number of cellphone apps have sprung up that promise to block robocalls and other frauds. And regulators across an alphabet soup of agencies are trying to catch and punish fraudmongers: Last month, the FCC proposed a $120 million fine — its largest ever — in a Miami-based travel-fraud bust.

But it’s increasingly clear that government will never be able to protect Americans from the scams spreading like wildfire across the internet and cell-phone networks — at least, not nearly as well as Americans can protect themselves.

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